Dick Tracy (1945)

Director:

William Berke

Writers:

Chester Gould (comic strip)
Eric Taylor (writer)

Release Date:

1 December 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Mystery | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Hero to 30,000,000... Thrilling on the Screen!

Plot:

Dick is faced with a series of brutal murders in which the victims, all from different social and economic backgrounds...

Plot Keywords:

Murder Investigation | Dick Tracy | Based On Comic Strip | Beautiful Woman | Gagged And Bound

Cast

Morgan Conway	...	Dick Tracy
Anne Jeffreys	...	Tess Trueheart
Mike Mazurki	...	'Splitface'
Jane Greer	...	Judith Owens
Lyle Latell	...	Pat Patton
Joseph Crehan	...	Chief Brandon
Mickey Kuhn	...	Junior
Trevor Bardette	...	Prof. Linwood J. Starling
Morgan Wallace	...	Steve Owens
Milton Parsons	...	Deathridge the Undertaker
William Halligan	...	Mayor

Also Known As:

Dick Tracy, Detective (USA) (reissue title)
Splitface (UK)

Runtime:

61 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #10963) | Sweden:15

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

The first of four classic Dick Tracy movies.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The French Connection (1971)

Interesting Story Makes Up For Routine Production

Despite a rather routine production, this B-mystery is worth watching for the story, which is not bad. The beginning sets things up rather well, with Tracy trying to figure out both who the elusive 'Splitface' might be, and how he chose his apparently unconnected victims. There are several fairly interesting characters that he encounters along the way, and things move at a good pace most of the time. With a bigger budget and perhaps a little better writing here and there (in particular, to give poor Tess some better lines), it could be quite good. But there's no reason to quibble too much with it the way it is, since it's more than enough to provide decent entertainment for an hour or so.